Spring Sprung and Sprang away...

It's just too darn hot for my taste. It's that simple. Even after 10 years I can't get used to it. San Francisco was NEVER like this and in La Jolla May was still grey. In fact we had June Gloom to look forward to. But here, UGH! Already! Wotcha gonna do? My "little" floor fan is my best friend. I treat him with care, giving him many breaks throughout the day so his little heart (uh, motor) doesn't give out. And too often my hands sweat so I put down my knitting and plunge them into cold water...

Capecho update:
Back at work on my Capecho, although that "gotta get it done" feeling is on the wane (and I save this for the coolest moments.) Still, I am in the middle of my second Pentagon and am aiming for at least one per week, so we'll see how long it takes. Here is my first new pentagon. As planned, I made it as for 1x and on 5 mm needles. The stitch definition is MUCH better and the piece is tighter (in a good way!)


And here you can compare the new with old. It is about 1" smaller on all sides, exactly what I wanted.


Arietta update:
Despite writing to groups and looking around for a substitute, I was unable to find a deeper color for Color A. Again I remind everyone that the photo shows much BETTER definition than the real thing! And then on Wednesday it all came together. I was SERIOUSLY thinking about ordering from KnitPicks and putting the whole thing off for a while, when a friend called and offered to bring back yarn from the US. And this all occurred while at, and on the way home from, my LYS. In the mean time I had tried to look beyond the 5 individual colors and did a serious study of the color scheme. After analyzing the pattern a bit more I can explain the color choices better. There is a neutral base color (beige) then a dark with light (cream and blue) for the cool side and another, less extreme dark with light (green and copper) which feels a little warmer. Once I had this epiphany I started looking at all those yarn colors in a new light. And I found a winning combination!


It is very different than the original but I like it, and it reminds of a wonderful olive, plum dress I had as a girl. The dress sticks in my mind because I think I got to wear it only once before my mother washed it and it shrank to doll size. But oh, I did love the colors!

So here are the swatches side by side. They were both blocked, but look at the difference! First I changed from 3.5 mm needles to the 3.25 mm ones I found in my needle stash. I also remembered to garter up the edges, which probably helped. The color schemes give an entirely different feeling and I suppose mine will be good for fall, but as I said, I like it! And if I have the desire to do this all again, I may just order that KnitPicks yarn yet.



Wind Chimes scarf
I thought I would use some of the lovely cotton I have been acquiring to make this, but frankly the cotton is VERY tough on the hands (I had this problem only with the crochet, knitting is a dream,) and I didn't like the way the "dashes" were coming out. So I used some of the Schachenmayr Micro I had in my stash and was much happier with the results. Again, color choices are limited, so I couldn't get as close to the original as I would have liked, but I think this will work nicely.


I should be able to get 2 scarves out of this yarn and I have a few more colors on hold to go with the other colors I had in my stash (that one will be pinks, yellows, purple and red). I'm guessing the Wind Chimes scarf will be replacing Argosy as the present to give next year!

And finally... Several months ago I saw a picture of Nicky Epstein's Rose Felted Bag. And I went crazy trying to find the pattern (the one VK on eBay was going for some CRAZY price - I wasn't THAT desperate!) Then I learned that it was included in Nicky's new Knitted Flowers book. While the book was sitting in my virtual shopping cart I decided to Google the pattern one more time. I found two items of note. First, a review that wasn't terribly good. It said there were lots of pretty pictures but not much as far as content went. A real let down compared to Nicky's previous books. Was the price of the book worth it for this one pattern? Then, Eureka! I found Dream Weaver Yarns' website. They had the VK Winter 2004/2005 issue which the pattern had been featured in, at $5.99! So there would be no free shipping, but I got all the patterns of a VK issue (and Winter tends to be my favorite.) How exciting is that! I will do my fair share of swatching first and am considering doing Amanda's Squatty Sidekick too, (free pattern from Interweave's Knitting Daily). See, this will be my first felting project. Not only can't you find yarn for feting here, but I only have cold water for my washing machine. (European models are set to heat the water themselves but I have a nice American Maytag. Unfortunately, the plumbing isn't set up for that!) So while it'll be a at least a month before I get started, I ordered the magazine last night and I am already excited just thinking about it!

Color Me Frustrated

You'd think by now I'd be able to just start a project and have things go pretty smoothly from the get go. Ha! But then I've only been knitting seriously for just over a year so I should cut myself some slack. My two current projects, Arietta and Capecho, are giving me a bit of a trouble but I shall persevere!

Arietta
I was so excited when I saw the new Arietta pattern at Knitty, designed with yarn from KnitPicks and so reasonably priced! But what's a girl to do when the recommended yarn can't be found in her country, but a great local cotton IS available in a rainbow of colors for even LESS money?!? So off to my LYS I went to purchase my first balls of Heela cotton. Retailing at 9NIS or about $2.25 with VAT already included, the price can't be beat. Groovy! So what's the problem? While Heela cotton may be have about 50 colors in their range, I can't find a dark enough beige, my color A. Here are the colors I bought originally. All in a pile everything looks great!

However, once I knit the swatch I saw very little contrast between the cream and the beige. Another issue I had was needle size. You can't find 1/4 sizes here so I tried this with a 3.5mm and wasn't thrilled with the stitch definition. Some of this is probably my fault, I've never knitted with cotton before and it is definitely not as kind on the fingers as some of the wools I have been using.

After knitting this swatch I went back to my needle stash on a hunch. Last summer I went "home" to San Francisco for a long overdue visit. One day my grandma asked me if I'd like some needles that had belonged to my great aunt (her sister-in-law) and pulled out a box with over a dozen needles (dpns, circs and straights). Well of course I said yes but they seemed quite thin as I was using 4mm and 5mm needles at the time. So a few days ago, faced with this needle dilemma, I pulled out a couple of pairs, placed them in the holes of my gauge ruler and lo and behold, they were 3.25 and 2.75, just what the pattern called for. By this time I had gone back to my LYS and exchanged the beige for a light chocolate brown. While I am happy with the stitch definition I am not so thrilled with the color.

I've played around with other color combinations and so far nothing. I will keep looking for a better beige and/or different color combos and keep you posted.

One good result of this cotton fever is that I am finally making the Wind Chime scarf from VK's Crochet Scarves On the Go. Although the pattern calls for Koigu wool, this scarf seems just right for spring and I am trying it out in cotton.

Capecho Update:
If you take a gander over at the side bar you will see that Capecho is down to 1%.
As you may remember my nearly finished Capecho was HUGE. We all know by now that VK erred ever so slightly when they described Capecho as close fitting (if you check their site they now claim only the sleeves are tight fitting.) Alas this info came a little too late. I had adjusted the chart to make it a 2x. There is nothing to do but start anew, and I have ripped out over half and started over, but with two significant changes.
Due to the true shape of this garment, I figure 2 sizes smaller should be fine. However, my yarn isn't quite as thick as the Berroco so I have decided to knit this up on 5mm needles. After completing a few rows I am already happier with the stitch definition. Because the needles are smaller I didn't want to go to the XL so I have re re-worked the chart for a 1x. The most significant change is the placement of the cables and the addition of a third, as I did for the 2x. As soon as I get my first pentagon finished I will be able to compare it to those of my first try and get an idea if this will work. I will post before and after pictures.

BTW, I hear there is some problem with the comments section. I haven't received any for my last two postings (perhaps since I changed the blog's format.) I have contacted Blogger to see what the problem is but in the meantime, if you do have any comments please send them directly to me at: tantej@gmail.com.

Hope Springs Eternal

The heat here has been so unbearable that some days I was capable of nary a stitch. Just holding my knitting in my hands made them sweat and my poor little fan could barely keep up. So fleeing from wool and my Capecho frustrations, I did get a lot of work done on my modified Clapoits. OK, I forgot the silk is warm too but it's only a scarf! Anyway I've learned a few things about Clapotis and the yarn I chose.

1. I'm glad I bought the skein of Silk Rhapsody but I am also glad that I only bought 1. The colorway I chose just isn't enough for me and the two plies being separate are a bit of a pain to work with. Still I firmly believe that to get the drape a high percentage of silk is a must. One day when I can afford 4 skeins of Lorna's Laces, or maybe some of Hand Maiden's Lady Godiva (which would only use 3 skeins) I want to do this up right!
   
2. The thinner version (half the width of the original pattern) also doesn't work for me. I made it thinner because I only had that one skein but I also wondered if the 21" would be too wide for me. It won't be. So once again, one day when I can afford...
3. I like the pattern. It's really easy and relaxing, you can let you mind wonder a bit, which is nice sometimes. And the finished scarf is definitely elegant.
   

So for now, I will leave you with my close to being finished modified Clapotis.

As I write this, the cold winds are coming in through the open balcony door. The freak heat has come to an end, or the freak cold has come back. I can't keep track but it's cold and rainy outside and I have no idea what next week will bring, so it was back to Capecho.

I've got some good news and some not so good news. After my frustration with the sleeves, I decided to put the collar in place, see if the whole thing was going to droop and then get back to the sleeves. So...

The good news: following Amy's instructions of a 1:1 then 1:2 ratio I worked the math, knit the correct number of rows and pinned the collar into place and started my seaming. True confession time: this is the first time I used the mattress stitch. Yes, I admit it! And when I think of the seams on the kids' sweaters I cringe from embarrassment. The stitch is so easy to do and the seam is so smooth I promise I will never go back to my old ways!
And now for the not so good news: After the collar was in place I reworked the left sleeve, getting just to the point where sleeve becomes pure ribbing and pinned it together. The right sleeve was still in place even though I knew I had to frog back to where the decreases should end. And I tried it on. And... it is too big. It doesn't droop or do any of the terrible things I had heard it would do, it's just too big. See if I had known it wasn't close fitting I wouldn't have made it bigger than the x-large but, unfortunately, VK didn't post that little correction until I was finished with the body. So there is nothing left to do but rip the whole thing apart and start again! But I start fearless because now I know the secret and it only has that one button at the top so I am hoping that the x-largewill be just right, and if not I have 6 months to lose a little weight! So in the meantime, I'll be frogging away, and making my center pull balls. I also plan on picking up the Heela cotton I will be using for Arietta. I've never worked with cotton nor have I done any color work so I look forward to the experience. But I haven't given up on my Capecho. After seeing Amy's pics I know it can be done well and I love the yarn I chose for it, I just won't be rushing through to get it done but I will keep you posted.

Big Girls Don't Cry

Well, sometimes they do. Like when I read this blog post from Knit Lit. And I finally learned what Capecho stands for: cape and poncho. Oh NO!!! It is not my imagination that this thing is huge. The collar will NOT pull it all together. What's a girl to do. Seriously. I guess it's time to rip the whole thing out and decide whether or not to remake it smaller. Perhaps use smaller needles too. Oh Boo Hoo, Boo Hoo. VK has some serious splaining to do!!!

added several hours later
OK, I've done some more research on the matter, after froging my second sleeve. (Oh, so impatient I have become.) I found this blog post from mya finari posts, whose Capecho came out just right. How? We all know it's in the collar. The directions say the collar/body ratio is 1:1 but Amy reworked hers as 1 row of collar to 2 stitches of body on every second pentagon. So I haven't given up hope yet. I am back to fixing the sleeves and then to start working the collar which I will attach as I go.

Keep you posted.

Happy Birthday to Me

I celebrated my birthday last Friday and though it was low key I did enjoy receiving these flowers from A and the A's as well as a great little book from my good friend C (she of the Beach Escape fame,) and a lovely chocolate cake with cherries on top plus a full round of "Happy Birthday" at Shabbos dinner.


C knows I love words; I have been subscribing to AWAD for years now as well as Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day and I just subscribed to the Oxford English Dictionary's daily word. Can I take a moment to rhapsodize over the OED. It was the one thing I actually asked for as a university graduation present and though it has been sitting at my mother's for the last 10 years I think of it often. I have the compact edition which means that 20 volumes have been reproduced micrographically, into a single volume. Nine pages of the original fit onto just one and it comes with its own magnifying glass that you place directly on the printed page. It was indispensable when I worked on Hamlet at the San Diego Rep. (End of OED rhapsody!) My new book is terrific. It takes every day phrases and gives the history of how they came about. Take, for instance, High Jinks, which my good friend S is always clamoring for. When someone is having High Jinks they are lively and excited; having a good time. High Jinks can be traced back to a popular dice game found at the decadent drinking parties in the great houses of Scotland in the late 19th early 20th century. Amongst the book's categories are: Money (or the lack of it), Food for Thought, the World of Books and That's Entertainment. All topics I can relate to! And what did I give myself? I cast on and finished half a sleeve for my Capecho! Don't feel bad if you missed out. You have another chance. You see my birthday was 9 Iyar, and thanks to having my feet in two worlds, I get to celebrate it all over again on May 11!

Before we get to the Capecho saga, yes I am afraid it has become a bit of a saga, I'd like to mention the indefinitely stalled Clapotis project. I have been dying to make Clapotis since I first saw it and after trying out some swatches I knew that to get the drape I would have to use either the Lorna's Laces it calls for (now there's a birthday present!!!) or something similar. When we had our knitting event a few months ago I bought a skein of Silk Rhapsody. It was a splurge, I know, but I HAD TO HAVE IT. So after agonizing over what to make with just one skein I decided to use it to start Clapotis. Below you can see how far I got with a single skein (I made the scarf a bit narrower than called for) and a close up of the dropped stitches. So what's the hold up? I'm not sure I love this colorway enough to invest in buying 1 or 2 more skeins to finish this up. So if anyone has any ideas besides a simple shawl (not me style) of what to do with this, let me know.
Here's another Argosy. For those of you keeping score, this is #5. I modified this one, making it 9 blocks wide, as opposed to the original 5. Once again I used the Lanas Stop: Yes Please in color way 207. This is the colorway I used for my sister's. This is a surprise gift for someone but since the sun is coming out in full force I won't be passing it on quite yet. That should keep the mystery going. In the meantime, I have decided that while the original is a bit narrow, the 9 repeats is a bit wide for me. So that takes us to Arogsy #6 for me and back to colorway 208. It will have a s 7 block repeat and I will give my mom the thinner one.

I can't say enough about this Lanas Stop: Yes Please yarn. The self striping colors are great and it really lends it self to lace work. So far I have used 4 colorways to make Argosy, Midwest Moonlight and Lacy Ocean. I have one more colorway at home. This time a rich burgundy blend. Any pattern recommendations?

And now to Capecho. Here is a the completed back, just waiting for sleeves and collar. And indeed have begun the sleeves. In fact I have finished the left one, twice. Huh? Well despite that fact that I made the pentagons larger to make the overall size bigger, my arms aren't that big so I went for the printed XL instructions, added a couple more inches for length, bound off and sewed it up. The sleeve was huge! So I ripped back to where the sleeve decreases started and continued the pattern 4 more rows following the L directions and of course, disaster. The whole thing pulls up too far so the underarm doesn't work. After completing it twice I have come to the conclusion that I should follow the XL instructions but will try changing needle size when I get to the plain ribbing. And all this will be done on the right sleeve because I am not about to rip out and restart the left sleeve AGAIN (at least not until I see this thing with both sleeves in. Then of course I will rip away...) This way I will be able to compare and see where I am going wrong. I have to admit I have been worried about the over all size for a while now. It just seems so, SO big. With one sleeve in I see that it is taking shape, another reason to leave it in temporarily and put in the second. Across the back it seems fine but the neck line seems to go on forever. I will just have to take it on faith that when the collar goes in all will be fine. And if not, take apart the whole thing and start over! (Oh, I hope not!) There is no other way to fix it. The size of the pentagon is based on the CO stitches, you can't make it smaller without starting over. I have started casting on the right sleeve so we'll see where that takes us. In the meantime, I will leave you with this shot of the left sleeve just to give you an idea of what the jacket will look like. I think I will extend the sleeve yet another inch or so.

And on a final posting note, I am tré s excited about the new Arietta cardigan that just went up on Knitty. I will wait until I get to the US this summer before putting in my order to KnitPicks!

Getting there is half the fun. Right?

Just because you love the design and know you are going to love your finished item doesn't mean that sometimes the work involved gets, well, a little boring. Case in point, my Capecho. I love it. I really do. I love the design, I love the color I chose, I even love working with the yarn. But when you get right down to it, it is kind of boring. Crazy, right. But if you look at the chart, or if you look close at some of my progress pics, you'll learn what I did pretty quickly. This design is mainly ribbing, with a few cables thrown in to keep you going. That and the decreases are the whole thing. Now, if you thought this patterns was difficult just from looking at Vogue Knitting cover, with the lovely waif modeling it, this should come as good news. Ah, you ask, so where is the challenge? Well that comes in keeping track of your cast on stitches (even if you are using markers) and pick up stitches in the right places; and if you are anything like me, that means NOT doing the casting on part past 10pm at night! You may find yourself doing a fair share of ripping! Once I made a mistake in my count and cast on 105 sts instead of 115 before picking up from an existing pentagon. Well with a first row WS of just purling I didn't figure out I was short until the 4th repeat in row 2. And later, despite the numerous times I had checked, I picked up stitches in the wrong place (what will be the collar area instead of the back) and was half way into pentagon 9 before I noticed. I suggest placing markers into the corner joins where the stitches will be picked up.
Here are some progress pics...

Here is Pentagon 10, being joined to 3 & 4:


Here is the 1, 2, 9 connection:

And here is the whole thing so far:

So that leaves me 3/4's of Pentagon 10, Pentagon 11, the sleeves and collar left to go.

Now, in other news...
You may have noticed some additions on the side bar. I have added some progress bars and a Flicker badge. More on some of those projects coming soon...
Oh, and the Ad Sense. If you click on those ads you will be helping my annual income. Yes, the theory is the more you all click, the more money I will make. So remember, click and I shall receive.

Oh, the thrill of it!

After Havdala at the end of Pesach we wish each other a Gezunte Zimmer, Kayitz Bari, or in plain English, a Healthy Summer. For those of you still seeing droplets fall and feeling the cold winds interspersed with moments of clear, bright skies, I wish you all 3! After last night's sand storm we could use it. I had no intention of taking such a long break, funny how real life can encroach upon your designated blog time! I enjoyed my all too brief Pesach. Highlights included a meander through the Har Tzofim campus with S who was desperate for HiJinx and had an urge to hit the road and a fabulously relaxing few hours at the beach in Bat Yam with C who has my undying gratitude for not only coming up with the idea but supplying the transportation and most of the picnic basket! Until I moved to Jerusalem I lived most of life about 15 minutes away from the ocean, but with the hustle, bustle and stress of life I sometimes forget how much I miss it. Just a few hours absorbing those negative ions and I was a new woman! Here's a picture I took a few years ago while visiting my old haunting grounds in La Jolla, a place I used to go to at night and watch the waves roll in and find a fleeting moment of zen.


All this talk of fresh air and oceans makes me think of all things nature which reminds me that my Backyard Leaves scarf is completed! (How's that for a segue!) V. exciting news since it is still cold enough to use it. I am in love with the KnitPicks Andean Silk yarn I used; soft, warm and delicious! Can't wait to use it again. And hey, I really do love nature. Most of my favorite photographs are nature oriented. Here are a couple of my favorites: Man of War (at Monterey Aquarium) and Surfer at Sunset along 17 Mile Drive.

And all this leads me to my current WIP (work in progress): Nora Gaughan's Capecho. Featured on the cover of Vogue Winter 2006/2007, I absolutely fell in love with this cropped jacket/bolero which Nora calls a Capecho. This is my first big modular piece and I am really enjoying it. I am currently on my 5th pentagon. I just hope it looks as good on me as it does on the skinny minnie model! Specs as follows:

Gedifra AIRMIX in 7307, a soft dusty rose. 62% merino, 30% cotton, 8% polymide.
5.5 mm circular needles (lots of stitches!)
Gauge: 18 sts and 24 rows = 4"/10cm in stockinette
Adjustments: pattern only goes to 45" bust (closed) measurement. I altered the pattern by extending the base proportionally to the existing pattern. By adding 4 more rows I had to add another cable on the original row 1 to keep the design. Below you can see a completed pentagon:

and a close up of the join between 2 pentagons (on the right side) and starting a new pentagon (on the left side.)

As soon as I get State side I am dying to go through Nora's book Knitting Nature and see if I want to add it to my library. Oh, and worry not; I haven't broken my moratorium on new yarns. I simply exchanged some yarn in my stash from which I had had immediate buyer's remorse!